RICHMOND – Jury deliberations began Tuesday in the federal case against Bob and Maureen McDonnell, and the day wrapped up without a decision.

Jurors will assembly again Wednesday morning to continue their secret discussions. They're weighing five weeks of testimony and complex instructions on federal law with the 14 count indictment against Virginia’s former first couple.

To convict, their decision must be unanimous. And they must believe the McDonnells guilty beyond a resonable doubt. They must also consider each count separately against the former governor and his wife. U.S. District Court Judge James R. Spencer told them to take their time.

“This is your business now,” Spencer said, as he handed the case to jurors shortly before noon.

Spencer called the jury back about 5:30 p.m. – the typical stopping time throughout this trial – to send members home for the day. That’s the schedule until the jury reaches a verdict, and they’ll be back in Wednesday morning at 9:45.

Outside the courthouse, former Gov. Bob McDonnell said he would simply “wait upon the Lord.”

“That's all I can do,” he said. “I've been part of the criminal justice system for 38 years and the system usually gets it right.”

Jurors spent Tuesday morning listening to Spencer lay out the complex, and crucial, instructions they’re to use in deciding this case. They’re to apply these rules “regardless of the consequences” and return a verdict “without prejudice or sympathy,” Spencer said.

They're to use “greater care” in weighing alleged briber Jonnie R. Williams Sr.'s testimony because he has immunity in this case, Spencer said. They can place whatever weight they like on the testimony from character witnesses who took the stand on the governor’s behalf.

“Evidence of good character alone may create a reasonable doubt,” Spencer said during his instructions.

That’s a standard instruction in this sort of case, according to Kelly Kramer, a white-collar defense attorney in Washington, D.C.

It’s also one of the last things jurors heard from the judge before beginning their deliberations.

The fact that Maureen McDonnell chose not to testify in this case “must not be discussed or considered in any way,” Spencer told jurors. She can only be convicted of many of the counts if the jury believes she conspired with her husband.

As first lady, Mrs. McDonnell was not herself a public official, and thus had no office of her own to sell, Spencer told jurors.

Two of the counts against the McDonnells allege conspiracy. To find them guilty, jurors must decide that the couple worked together to take Williams' money in return for arranging meetings for him with state officials, hosting and attending events to support Anatabloc and contacting state officials in an attempt to win support for an ultimately unsuccessful effort to have state universities research the product.

Intent is key, based on Spencer’s instructions. Jurors must also believe that at least some elements of the deal were kept secret.

Other corruption counts against the couple lay out the specific acts prosecutors say were part of this conspiracy. These counts list some of the money the McDonnells took and the actions prosecutors say followed. Just how the jury defines “official acts” will be key here.

Spencer said that any acts “customarily performed” by the governor can be considered official acts. He doesn’t have to hold final approval powers for an act to count, Spencer said. It can be one in a series of steps, Spencer said.

The scheme doesn’t have to be successful, and even if an action is legal or beneficial on its own, that’s not a defense if the governor got paid to do it, Spencer said. Again intent, and what Williams believed he was getting for his money, are key.

The “official act” instructions” are crucial, and seem to favor the prosecution’s case, according to Richard Kelsey, assistant dean at George Mason University's law school. Kelsey pointed to a prime example of the troubling timing in the case: Bob McDonnell emailed an aide about Anatabloc six minutes after he reached out to Williams, looking to nail down the details of a $50,000 loan.

“Is that an official act?” Kelsey asked. “I would say that's an official act ... for him to fire off an email and say, 'Hey, take a look at this product.’”

“You know that they're going to do that, because he's the governor,” Kelsey said.

The McDonnells face 11 counts together, all amounting to bribery, extortion or corruption.

These charges lay out the use of bank transfers to accept Williams’ money, one of the things that gives the federal government the element of interstate commerce it needed to bring this case.

Williams’ company, Star Scientific, also operates in multiple states.

Bob McDonnell faces one count of bank fraud alone, for failing to include a 2011 loan Williams gave the family on a loan application. A second bank fraud charge was lodged against both the McDonnells because of an incomplete loan application they both signed.

Spencer told jurors that, to convict on either of these charges, they must believe the McDonnells left the loan information out “for the purpose of influencing” the bank.

Count 14 is against Maureen McDonnell alone. She is accused of obstructing the investigation by returning dresses Williams had purchase for her and writing a note that suggests this was her plan all along.

It’s impossible to say how long it will take the jury to reach a verdict, and it’s too early to infer anything, Kelsey said.

“I think if you get to Thursday, 5:30, and they send the jury home, I think you can legitimately infer that there is some deep disagreement on these counts,” he said.

Even then, juries are “completely unpredictable,” Kelsey said.

“At the end of the day, what they're going to do in that room, in a group dynamic — very hard to predict,” he said.

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